Majuro: After a spate of child deaths linked to similar syrups in some countries last year, the WHO said contaminated cough syrup made by an Indian firm has been found in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
There was no mention in the WHO statement of any illnesses among youngsters in Micronesia or the Marshall Islands. However, it claimed samples from a batch of imported cough syrup with the brand name Guaifenesin syrup TG syrup were contaminated with prohibited levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, both of which are fatally hazardous to humans when swallowed.
The stated manufacturer of the medicines was India’s QP Pharmachem, based in Punjab, and the product’s marketer was Haryana-based Trillium Pharma, WHO said. Samples from the suspect batch were analysed after being reported to WHO on April 6, it added. QP Pharmachem’s MD said the company took the Indian government’s permission to export 18,000 syrup bottles only to Cambodia. The syrup was also distributed in India, he said, adding that no complaints had been received so far.